High Creek, Utah and the Drive to Helena, MT

Today I drove from Huntsville, Utah to Helena, Montana and on my way I collected samples of the Mutual Formation and the Geersten Canyon Formation along High Creek in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. This was the longest driving day of the entire trip at ~470 miles and 8 hours. Thankfully as I've driven north the temperatures have cooled off and made the driving much more pleasant.

Here's a shot of High Creek Valley. The Land Rover can just be seen at the bottom of the valley.

The road to access these samples was a little rougher than I would have preferred given the state of my steering but I persevered, drove slowly and got the samples anyways. The Geersten Canyon Formation has truly remarkable cross lamination which creates a texture akin to that of wood. Here's a shot of a beautiful piece in a rubble slope beneath the sample location.

I arrived at Canyon Ferry, Montana (near Helena) fairly late but still managed to collect my last sample, the Tintic Sandstone inside Helena National Forest just before sunset. Helena National Forest lies within the Big Belt Mountains and just west of my first sample location at Neihart within the Lewis and Clarke National Forest (Neihart). At it was already quite late I decided to randomly camp on the edge of Canyon Ferry Lake. Here's a shot of my final campsite.

I don't know for sure but I suspect the Land Rover is now carrying ~800 lbs of rock (40 samples at about 20 lbs/sample) plus all my tools, spares, camping gear and water. It is going down by the stern a bit at this point and the acceleration is uninspiring. No major deterioration in the swivel pins situation. They are clunking a bit more than they did yesterday but they seem to be holding together okay on the highways. Tomorrow I will be heading for Canada and home to the family. Here's hoping Canada Customs doesn't object to rocks covered in lichen!